Reproduction

Along with all of our many gardening projects, we also have two "accidental" plantings to contend with. The potatoes came up from some sprouted, wrinkly, forgotten potatoes that we had over the winter. We tossed them in the ground and voila, potato plants!

We were fascinated to discover not only potatoes but also potato fruit (see here). While googling these, I discovered that you can keep potato seed and use them to plant in the spring. Even cooler, I discovered that you can make your own breed. That's right, in a couple years we'll have our very own Stuck in the Middle TM breed of potatoes. We just need to plant several varieties we like and allow them to cross pollinate. By planting those seeds each year, we'll end up with new varieties of potatoes, and can pick the ones we like.

So today, I picked the little potato fruits, diced them, and covered them with water. In a day or two, the seeds will sink and the fruit will float, making it easier to separate the two. Then we'll dry them and put them in the tornado shelter to wait for next spring, when the breeding adventure will really start.

And in squash news, that squash plant is going nuts. Peter weeded around the plant, exposing more of the seeds from the rotten shell. We now have a gazillion teeny plants.
I'm thinking I might try to save seeds from the squash as well... it just sounds like fun. And I'm sure the Irish and Italian ancestors would be proud.